Christian Bale

Christian Bale has become the actor that can do no wrong on screen, but that goatee is really pushing it.

Also featured today: Kelly Brook puts all the other women to shame at the British Fashion Awards in London; Johnny Depp shows his fashion cred at the premier of “The Tourist;” and we continue to wonder how much longer Katy Perry and Russell Brand will be married. We are totally serious.

There are not a lot of happy people in â€œThe Dark Knight.â€™â€™ Or any, for that matter. Moments of joy are short-lived and muddied with uncertainty.

Christopher Nolan paints this stunning sequel in dark and unsettling shadings, more so than in his â€œBatman Beginsâ€ predecessor.

Director and co-writer, Nolan thickens his picture with strong story lines, constructing a violent and eerie catâ€™s cradle of damaged villains and heroes â€” a Freudian freak show ill-suited for children, despite the filmâ€™s comic book roots and PG-13 rating.

The humorâ€™s more morbid, the action more elaborate than in â€œBatman Begins,â€ which earned $372 million worldwide. The grandest stunts â€” including a high-speed chase with a big rig and the techno-cool Bat Pod cycle â€” were shot in IMAX. The immense, up-close perspective fosters immersion in the action and dizziness from some of the arty camerawork, but I doubt youâ€™d lose much seeing it all on a regular-size screen.

At its core, â€œThe Dark Knightâ€ continues the struggle to rid Gotham City of its criminals â€” not only the title characterâ€™s crusade, but that of new district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the storyâ€™s designated â€œwhite knight.â€

This plot thread wends through the soft-spoken heroâ€™s troubled psyche, making him more conflicted about keeping his secret identity and, implicitly, the loneliness that accompanies it. (Freud would kill to get him on a couch.)

He seems more withdrawn, despite having matured and toughened. As Batman â€” Baleâ€™s signed for two more sequels â€” the actorâ€™s performance is quieter but more chilling, as if thereâ€™s a simmering volatility lurking just below the surface. To Baleâ€™s credit, his aberrant creation doesnâ€™t disappear in the Jokerâ€™s long shadow.

In his final performance â€” not counting an unfinished role in Terry Gilliamâ€™s â€œThe Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassusâ€ â€” Ledger turns the iconic character into a truly frightening villain, possibly the genreâ€™s scariest ever. The patchy clown makeup barely hides his characterâ€™s facial scars, adding a ghoulish tint to his offhand malevolence.
Jack Nicholsonâ€™s over-the-top Joker in Tim Burtonâ€™s â€œBatmanâ€ ramped up the 1989 filmâ€™s charisma, delivering a handful of laughs and a lot of mugging. Ledgerâ€™s Joker grows from deeper within. His Clown Prince of Crime is rawer emotionally and psychologically. The filmâ€™s mad catalyst, he operates without boundaries, scruples, rhyme or reason beyond creating anarchy and chaos.

Itâ€™s a masterful portrayal, the source of the pictureâ€™s pitch-black humor as well as its chills. Each time Ledgerâ€™s onscreen, he expands and enriches the â€œDark Knightâ€ experience. Compared to his Joker, the filmâ€™s other villains come across as circus bozos exiting a VW.

Eckhartâ€™s D.A., a fine addition, acts as Bruceâ€™s ideal. Harveyâ€™s the kind of in-the-open hero he aspires to, despite knowing itâ€™s a pipe dream due to his vigilante history.

I didnâ€™t like â€œThe Dark Knightâ€ â€” I prefer pictures that lift spirits â€” but I appreciated it. Itâ€™s too long, and Nolan tosses in too many twists near the end. But it delivers ongoing adrenalin rushes, mental popcorn to chew over and a rich atmosphere to get lost in.

And itâ€™s impressive enough to rank as summerâ€™s strongest blockbuster.